Page 4 of Falling for the Knockout (No Mercy #1)
A urora got all the way home before she realized that she had both her and Tony’s cell phones in her bag. Their phones were similar, and she must have grabbed his thinking that it was hers. The question was, should she just hold onto it until she saw him again the next morning, or should she go over to his place to give it back to him? After everything that happened between them that morning at the bakery, she kind of wanted to go to his place. Maybe he could fill in some blanks for her because he had surely left enough of them.
She heard one of the phones ringing in her bag while she was trying to decide what to do. pulled Tony’s out and saw an unknown number on the screen. Maybe it was Tony using someone’s phone to call his own to find it. She was sure that she was breaking a million HR rules by answering her boss’s phone, but then again, the bakery had no HR. She answered the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello,” a woman said on the other end of the call. ’s heart sank at the idea of Tony having women calling him. Maybe she had just imagined the fact that he said that he liked her. Maybe he was just being polite to her after her outburst.
“Hello,” said.
“I’m trying to find Anthony Vitale, Jr.,” the woman said.
“Oh, um, this is his phone but he’s not here right now. May I take a message?” asked. If the woman said that she was calling Tony for a hookup, she was just going to hang up the phone, because she couldn’t give him a message about a booty call.
“Yes, please,” the woman said, “can you let him know that we have his grandfather down at County General Hospital, and he needs a ride home? It’s not safe for him to drive himself right now.”
“Is everything okay with Elio?” she asked. He might be Tony’s grandfather, but he was a surrogate grandfather to her as well. She loved that old man and if anything happened to him, she wanted to help.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that,” the nurse insisted, “HIPPA laws and everything like that.”
“Of course,” said, “I understand.” She didn’t though. She knew that Tony wouldn’t get the message without his cell phone, and she’d have to run all the way back down to the bakery to find his address in his employee folder if Elio even wrote it down. That would only waste time, and she worried that Elio might not have time. The only thing that she could think of doing was to go to the hospital herself and help Elio. Then, he could tell her where Tony lived so she could drop both Elio and Tony’s cell phone off to him.
“I’ll give Tony the message as soon as I see him,” she promised, ending the call. That was partially true. When she showed up at his house with his grandfather, she’d let him know that the nurse had called his phone.
Happy with her plan, stuffed his phone back into her bag and grabbed her car keys. She really needed to change her outfit, but that would only waste more time, and the hospital was thirty minutes away. She’d just have to deal with people staring at her for wearing about five pounds of flour on her shirt. None of that mattered now. All she could think about was getting to Elio.
She asked at the front desk what room Elio was in, and they asked her if she was family. pasted on her best smile and nodded her head. “I’m his granddaughter,” she lied. The nurse looked her over and felt as though she was holding her breath.
“,” a man said from behind her. She’d know that deep, sexy growl anywhere. She had heard it in her dreams every night when Tony would call her name.
She turned to find Tony standing behind her and from the smirk on his face, he had heard the lie that she had just told the nurse. The question was, would he play along or turn her in?
“Tony,” she breathed.
“Are you two together?” the nurse asked.
“No,” said.
“Yes,” Tony countered. He put his arm around ’s waist and smiled back at the nurse. “My wife and I both came to see my grandfather together. I think she just said no because we arrived in separate cars, so we’re technically not here together, but yes, we’re together.” Tony’s verbal diarrhea was going to blow both of them getting into the room to see Elio.
“He’s right,” she agreed, “I just misunderstood your question.”
“I don’t have time for this, and I certainly don’t get paid enough money for this nonsense,” the nurse grumbled as she made them each a badge. “Put these on and go up to the third floor. They can direct you from there.” nodded her thanks and started for the elevator, Tony hot on her heels.
“Wait up,” he whispered as they both stepped onto the elevator. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
She watched the doors close and let out the breath that she had been holding. “I didn’t want to give the nurse a chance to change her mind. I lied and I didn’t want to stand around waiting for her to realize it.”
“Yeah, I picked up on your little lie, but I don’t think that Elio will mind,” Tony insisted.
“You can’t tell him that I lied about him being my grandfather, Tony,” she almost shouted. “He’ll fire me.”
“I can assure you that my grandfather won’t fire you, ,” he said. “He adores you.”
“Wait, he does?” asked. “How can you be sure?” She wasn’t very good at reading people and hearing Tony first say that he “More than liked her” and now telling her that Elio adored her, was really throwing her off.
“He does, and I’m sure that he’s not going to mind the fact that you showed up here to see him. Um, how did you know that he was here?” Tony asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, digging through her bag. “I picked up your phone by mistake at the bakery, and when an anonymous number called it, I assumed that you were calling your phone to try to find it—so I answered it.”
“And let me guess, the nurse told you that Elio was here. Did you ask her why?” he asked.
“I did and she basically told me that it was none of my business. I’m not on his HIPPA form,” said.
“Yeah, me either, but I plan on changing that while we’re here. Elio put me down as his emergency contact but didn’t put me on his HIPPA form. That’s kind of messed up, right?” Tony asked.
“Yeah, it is,” she said. The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out into the hallway. She grabbed Tony’s arm, stopping him from walking over to the nurse’s station. “Why do you think he’s in here?” she asked. “Do you think it has anything to do with his doctor’s appointment today?”
“I almost forgot about that,” Tony said, “today’s been so crazy that I didn’t remember to call him. Shit, what if something happened at his office visit and I wasn’t there for him?” knew how much Tony worried about his grandfather. She couldn’t blame him—Elio was a pretty awesome guy.
“Let’s not stand here and speculate. How about we find Elio and ask him what’s going on?” asked.
Tony nodded and walked over to the nurse's station. “Excuse me,” he said.
“Hold on one minute, honey,” the nurse said. He rolled his eyes at , making her giggle. “Okay, what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for my grandfather, Elio Vitale,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” the nurse said, “you and your wife have a seat over there and I’ll find out if I can take you back. Just give me a minute.” wanted to correct her, but Tony smiled at her, took her hand, and led her over to the waiting area.
“Why didn’t you say anything to her?” asked.
“What’s the point?” Tony questioned. “I mean, who cares if she thinks that we’re married? It doesn’t hurt her to believe that, and it gives me a chance to do this,” he said, holding up their joined hands. “And this,” he leaned in and gently brushed his lips over hers, causing her to gasp. He wasn’t what she had expected. She woke up today thinking that Tony hated her and now, he was gently kissing her lips and holding her hand. God, his lips were so warm, and he tasted good—she never wanted him to stop kissing her. But when the nurse walked over to them and cleared her throat to get their attention, knew that the kiss was going to end, and why did that actually upset her?
“Sorry to interrupt,” the nurse said giving them a saucy wink. “You two must be newlyweds.”
“Um, yeah,” Tony said, “can we see my grandfather?”
“He’s dressed and ready to get out of here. You’ll just have to sign a few papers when the discharge nurse comes to his room, but that shouldn’t take too long.” The nurse motioned for them to follow her, and they did. was worried about how they were going to find Elio—especially since neither of them knew what had happened to him or why he was in the hospital.
“He’s the second door down the hall,” the nurse said.
“Thank you,” Tony said, not bothering to stop walking to Elio’s room. “Nonno,” he called.
“I’m in here, Antonio,” Elio called back. He was the only person to call Tony by his Italian name. She thought that it was sweet, but every time Elio used that name, Tony made a face. wondered if he knew that. Elio did. She could tell that the old man did it on purpose. Maybe he did it just to see Tony make a face. He smiled every time his grandson did.
They walked into the small room where Elio called from, and from the look on his face, could tell that whatever was wrong with him wasn’t good. “What’s going on?” Tony asked. She could tell by the worried look on his handsome face that he was just as worried as she felt.
“I think that you should both have a seat, and then, we can talk,” Elio said, nodding to the two chairs next to the bed. He was always a little dramatic, but this was over the top, even for him.
sat down and patiently waited for Tony to do the same. Elio seemed a little less patient with his grandson. She reached for Tony’s hand just as he had hers downstairs in the lobby. “It’s going to be okay,” she assured, but she couldn’t make him that promise. She was just as scared as he was, but for some reason, they both seemed to be able to give the other comfort. And if that was what Tony needed right now, that was what she’d give him.